FLASH: Oil is punching toward $100.
Gov. Walker: Rule one in media savvy...put the telepromter by the camera, not down and to the left.
Logan attack detailed. It is grim.
The story has not ended: Infant dolphins dead along gulf coast.
Last night’s show was good, interesting, fun. Chock full of opinion from the right and left. Also, more than a little silly at times…
Thursday at 6 our guest is Dakinikat . Her blog Sky Dancing has been on top of the Wisconsin protests. Don’t miss her interview.
There is a God ! Cal Tech wins!
And the best tweeter out of Egypt award goes to…Sandmonkey!
What’s really fueling unrest in North Africa and the Middle East? Food and Ben Bernanke.
Funny about the Cal Tech win — I’d bet that there are more atheists per capita on that campus than on other campuses. I’m just waiting for someone to send you an email, “God had nothing to do with our win, and here’s an algorithm that proves it…”
ah Jay…that was kinda the point of the phrasing….but i must say i know of at least 2 Anglican Cal Tech-ers. But they are staff not students…
who cares what they believe as long as the smart lesbians sooth us after earthquakes….
“who cares what they believe as long as the smart lesbians sooth us after earthquakes”
What’s the matter with you John, have you forgotten that it is the lesbians and gay men who are causing the quakes? Pat Robertson says so, as do the christonuts in NZ.
http://www.christchurchquake.net/html/theWarning.html
– excerpt from “A Recall Fight Brewing in Wisconsin?” at: http://tinyurl.com/5v8bmnw
Flanders interviewed Nation journalist and seventh-generation Wisconsinite John Nichols. Nichols and fellow guest Matthew Rothschild of The Progressive noted that the bill isn’t just an attack on collective bargaining rights. The bill would force public sector unions to hold re-certification votes every year, which would put their very existence on the line annually. “The unions realize that this is a threat to their very existence,” Rothschild explained.
. . .
“I think if this [bill] gets pushed through, we’re going to have a recall effort and take this governor out,” Rothschild predicted.
body blow:
Walker may have just lost this fight:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/scott-walker-buffalo-beast-phone-prank_n_827058.html
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Sorry, but that is freaking hilarious. So much for all the idiots who claimed this guy wasn’t out to screw working people, he was just trying to honestly address a budget “crisis.” L.O. Freaking. L.
Now, if only some enterprising soul would do that to Obama. Who could he/she pretend to be? Jamie Dimon? George Soros? I would guess he’s a little harder to fool than Walker, though. Sigh.
Most interesting piece up at Joe Cannon’s site, a continued look at the Walker/Koch/Wisconsin connection, which I’m sure our TP friends will decry as just more Leftist-leaning, tin-foil hat theory but . . .
Ahhhh, what a tangled web we weave! Link here:
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/
See: WisCONsin — or: Koch is the new Enron
Btw, Naked Capitalism has another short piece to remind us why infrastructure sales can be bad for our health as a nation. Link here:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/02/more-reasons-to-be-leery-of-infrastructure-sales-abuses-of-rights-for-fun-and-profit.html
I sadly remember the details of the Pennsylvania example mentioned, the abuses that occurred in the for-profit juvenile detention case. The details in the original investigation that hit the local papers were a grotesque example of what happens when corrupt, I can do anything to anyone mentality takes over. And very often easy profit is the motivator and lack of regulation is the means.
I provided a link to that story at No Quarter and man, there is so much hate and anger over there. I didn’t come down on either side of the issue, but it was implied that I’m a George Soros Democrat, whatever the hell THAT means. labels, name-calling, golly gosh. I read the bill, because I live in Wisconsin, and I smelled a rat when it was introduced on a Friday and one-party rule was wanting a vote on it immediately. I don’t care who’s party it is…I like healthy debate, out in the open, transparency. I get suspicious anytime one party has complete power. period. and I suspected there were things in that bill that would be lost in the BIG issues, like the labor thing! one of the things that really caught my eye was the sale of Wisconsin power plants. and there’s been a lot in the news about Walker being financed by Koch brothers, whoever the hell they are. so I did a little research and found that they opened an office in downtown Madison a few days after Walker was sworn in. Now it may just mean that they like Madison and want to support the local economy by opening an office there. But it could also mean that they want to purchase those power plants in a no-bid contract, as the article suggests. I don’t know what the truth is and I’m not so full of myself that I believe my way of thinking is the only way. I have at least a 50% likelihood of being wrong on any given topic and I know that. I just like an honest and open discussion without the name-calling and ugliness and hate. when people get pushy with their opinions I pack it up and go home. I don’t like bullies and No Quarter seems to have their fair share lately. Unions may very well be the culprit for all the woes of this country, they may be why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Perhaps it’s true that they need to be blamed for Everything. I don’t know, maybe the public coffers getting raided by corporations and big business and politicians and their cronyism has nothing to do with why we are in such a mess, but I’m not so stupid as to believe that isn’t happening. I just don’t have the answer and I’m not going to pretend that I do. I don’t trust anyone, especially a politician, Republican or Democrat or Socialist or Communist or Libertarian. and I guess that’s my bottom line and it leaves me in a real pickle.
binthemidwest:
I think a lot of us are in the same pickle. It’s hard to find any heroes in this mess, just a whole lot of screwer-uppers and those willing to sell their souls.
My mother’s side of the family were all union people. Doesn’t mean all unions are blameless or saints but my personal view is if we cut the throat of Labor, we cut the throat of the American worker/middle class. Without a strong, vibrant middle class there is no Republic but seomthing that resembles feudalism–the rich and the serfs.
As for NQ? I was a regular poster at the site, back in the day when the majority of people were [or at least claimed to be] Hillary Clinton supporters. I rarely post there anymore because #1 my browser is no longer compatible with their software and #2 the site has become exceedingly Right Wing and hateful. If you’re not willing to toe the political line and agree 100% with every position, be prepared to be verbally abused, called an Obama-bot [which is almost funny in my case] and be told repeatedly that you’re a communist/marxist/socialist, an enemy of the USA. And oh yes, you probably don’t believe in God either.
I wish they could hear themselves. As for myself, I’m no longer willing to listen.
thanks Peggy Sue. I remember you from there and I often agreed with your comments. But I often agree with the other viewpoints there too. I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face when I leave a comment over there now. It’s just awful. I was a Democrat for 40 years and left the party in 2008, but I’m sure not going to believe that Republicans are my saviors. If a Democrat says or does something that I agree with I’ll say so, and vice versa. I’ve been liberated from believing that one-thought-rule is the only way. That’s the rub, isn’t it? If I comment contrary to what some over there believe, I’m called a name and labeled like I don’t even deserve to be there. There’s just no tolerance except for 100% what some believe. Bullies. I’m thinking that the Wisconsin budget bill smells to high heaven and most likely has all the giveaways in there that Republicans always, always hand out and then they turn around and point the finger at the other side and vilify and demonize them and put all the blame there. And then the Democrats come along and get power and giveaway to their groups and do the same damn thing. There’s no difference and hypocrisy rules. that’s it – hypocrisy. that is what rules the day. it’s so disheartening.
I used to like NQ but they have went so far right and nothing but hate in the comments. The meme over there is Democrats bad and the republicans are the good guys. Neither party is good but not all D’s are terrible. Just about any post with a Clinton name in it is so full of hate in the comments it is crazy. I have noticed some Clinton hate popping up at Corrente more and more. With all the evil in politics and business that is pulling us under I find the hate filled rhetoric directed at Bill and Hillary Clinton strange and petty.
Bigtime,
The only thing I can think of is that Obama’s friends and supporters are deathly afraid Hillary will run against Obama in 2012. She has been making noises about quitting as SOS. I think the Clinton Hate is being tossed around the blogosphere to make it seem like Hillary wouldn’t have a shot in hell of winning.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-23/koch-funneled-1-2-million-to-elect-governors-battling-unions.html
Yes, great post at cannonfire. must read.
WH: Obama still ‘grappling’ with gay marriage
“The White House says President Barack Obama is ‘grappling’ with his personal views on gay marriage even as he’s ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the constitutionality of a law that bans it.”
http://tinyurl.com/4cxr8po
I am glad about this. The DOJ defending that law was sickening. Don’t care why BHO stopped it…but am glad he did.
Right you are, John, and the reason this Obama move is so interesting is that he has now proven that he never “had” to send his Solicitor General into Court to defend some law to which he claimed to be opposed.
A president CAN make a choice about what laws to defend in Court and what laws to let stand.
Obama has just proven that he lied the other times when he said he no no choice but “had” to defend a bad law with which he disagreed.
Yep- my first thought when I heard this: “So it’s okay NOW not to defend a law you don’t agree with when before you said you had no choice????”
This is an early step in a planned progression to bring all of us back into the fold to vote for O in 2012.
DOJ not defending DOMA is great news. According to several stories I read today Obama actually said that DOMA is unconstitutional. I’m totally stunned!!! It’s been a long time since Obama did something I agree with.
Houston: We have a problem!
http://www.dylanratigan.com/2011/02/23/indiana-official-use-live-ammunition-against-wisconsin-protesters/
If this is a growing mindset out there, we won’t need to look at film footage from the ME. Please note that this is from a Indiana’s acting Deputy Attorney General.
We’re entering Brownshirt territory.
Well, I’m glad to report the above mentioned Deputy Attorney General has been fired. Score 1 for the people! Link here:
http://www.wlfi.com/dpps/news/indiana/tweet-lands-deputy-ag-in-hot-water_3727263
Unbelievable!!!!! He wanted to shoot school teachers for protesting? WTF was the guy thinking?
Obviously, that anyone not willing to ‘get with the program’ was an enemy of the state. It’s the sort of mindset I find thoroughly nuts and extremely dangerous. Not to mention unAmerican.
Fortunately, they sent this wacko packing.
Not trying to hog the board but there’s a lot of good reading and push back going on. Wisconsin may have been the tipping point, a wakeup call if you will. This at Firedoglake rattles the cage for all those who maintain that Walker’s proposed bill is “all about” budget and shortfall matters. Link here:
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2011/02/23/we-cant-break-aig-bonus-contracts-but-worker-pensions-no-problem/
Oh, those pesky details!
Those figures pitting pension payments against bailout funded bonuses are absolutely infuriating.
OMG!!!! Glad Jane, at Firedoglake, took the iniative to draw that contrast and to report and illustrate it so vividly. The fire under the feet of Walker is getting hotter by the second.